1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ophthalmic apparatus for photographing a retroillumination image of an eye to be examined.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a diagnosis of cataract and the like has been carried out mainly by a method based on slit observation with a slit-lamp microscope and observation of a retroillumination image. As a method for diagnosis of the above diseases, such has also been known that an examiner uses an apparatus for sectioning an eye to be examined with slit light and obtaining (photographing) a cross-sectional image of an anterior part of the eye with a photographing optical system disposed based on the Scheimpflug""s principle. Then, a diagnosis of a condition of opacity in a crystalline lens and the like is made based on the obtained image.
Under the above-mentioned method, it is possible to diagnose a condition of opacity in a crystalline lens and the like in which cataract has relatively developed, but it is difficult to make a diagnosis in the early stage of cataract. Further, when a slit-lamp microscope and an apparatus for photographing based on the Scheimpflug""s principle are used, technical observation by an ophthalmologist is required, and the apparatus is not suitable for a screening examination and the like. Therefore, there has been a problem that a patient cannot be diagnosed with cataract unless he or she notices a sign of the disease and is in its advanced stage.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and has an object to overcome the above problems and to provide an ophthalmic apparatus which enables an examiner to diagnose a patient with cataract and the like in the early stage, and which can be used even for a screening examination and the like.
To achieve the objects and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, an ophthalmic apparatus comprises an illumination optical system for having illumination light enter an inside of an eye to be examined so that the light scattered and reflected on a fundus of the eye illuminates an anterior part of the eye and a photographing optical system having an imaging spectroscope for obtaining an image including spectral information, for photographing a retroillumination image of the illuminated anterior part of the eye with the imaging spectroscope.
In another aspect of the present invention, an ophthalmic apparatus comprises a photographing optical system having a photographing lens, for photographing a retroillumination image of an anterior part of an eye illuminated in light reflected from a fundus of the eye, wherein the photographing optical system has an imaging spectroscope, disposed on an opposite side of the eye with respect to the photographing lens, for obtaining an image including spectral information.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.